WASHINGTON, D.C. - More than a year ago, people from all backgrounds and across the political spectrum came together to work for a society and government that serves all people - not just the 1%. That work is more important now than ever, and we can't do it without YOU!

Today, there are hundreds of local Our Revolution in communities across the country and beyond. These groups are started, led, and run by volunteers just like you. They are single mothers who've never been politically engaged before, farmers who make time to attend meetings and talk with their neighbors after a long day of work, high school students who knock doors for progressive champions after band practice. Thousands of volunteers are making significant impacts in their communities - and more join the work every day.

Local groups are forming candidate research teams and backing progressive slates in City Council elections, holding rallies to fight proposed cuts to local health care clinics, and gathering to phonebank for progressive champions like khalid kamau and Rob Quist. They share a commitment to our country, to their communities, and to the progressive values that brought us together.

Our Revolution groups are encouraged to be autonomous in how they engage in political action, but will generally focus on an amalgamation of Local, State, and National issues and campaigns, which may include:

Electing real progressive champions at all levels of government

Growing the movement at the local level through engaging

Pushing for progressive legislation and issue campaigns that put people over profit

Transforming state and local parties to meet the needs of working people, not the 1%

We are working to build sustainable grassroots power in every community. To be poised for success in elections in 2018 and beyond, we need your perspective and participation!

Your involvement in a local group will make our communities and our country stronger. No matter the magnitude of challenges we face together in the coming years, we know we can weather them together, and our full strength remains to be seen. We can't wait for you to join us.

MADISON, WI – Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke announced Wednesday that he has accepted an appointment as an assistant secretary in the Department of Homeland Security.

With this disturbing news, it’s clear that Trump continues to betray the nation’s trust with his appointment of Milwaukee County Sheriff as the newest member of the Trump Deportation Team. This is the same person who attempted to incite violence against the very institutions he has sworn to protect by telling people to get their ‘pitchforks and torches.’

In January, Clarke threatened violence to fellow air passengers saying, ‘next time he or anyone else pulls this stunt on a plane they may get knocked out.’ That threat came after a passenger on a plane shook his head at him. Sheriff Clarke has, again and again, shown our community and the nation a disturbing pattern of bizarre, irresponsible and menacing behavior. Our neighbors are right to be concerned with the damage Clarke could wreak on the national stage.

Trump knows that Clarke will back bad policies that betray our values, harm our neighbors, and enforce policies that rip families apart. As Milwaukee County Sheriff, Clarke recklessly pursued joining the Trump administration in their implementation of 287(g), which gives local law enforcement the ability to operate as federal immigration agents. Many of our neighbors oppose the program as it allows law enforcement to stop and question people based on just their appearance.

It’s no wonder Clarke was seeking an escape from his Milwaukee County mess before the next election, as he is facing communitywide anger for his gross mismanagement of the Milwaukee County Jail, including the recent tragic death of Terrill Thomas by dehydration. In a span of just months, four families lost their loved ones due to Clarke’s negligence and lack of supervision over his department.

Clarke has a history of mocking, belittling and intimidating our neighbors. He is yet another bad actor in a cast of clowns.

And if you’re in Milwaukee or Marshfield, I’ll be speaking tomorrow night and the next night on this very subject. On May 16, in Milwaukee, I’ll be at the Jewish Museum, 1360 N. Prospect St, starting at 7:00 p.m. And this Wed, May 17, in Marshfield, I’ll be speaking at an “Open Forum on Fair Elections and Gerrymandering,” starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Roehl Public Library, 105 S. Maple Ave. I hope to see you and your friends at one of these events. You can view our calendar of events here.

Matt Rothschild Executive Director
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P.S. And please don’t forget our annual meeting next Monday, May 22, at the Lussier Family Heritage Center, 3101 Lake Farm Rd, in rural Madison. The program starts at 6:00 p.m. Former head of the Government Accountability Board, Kevin Kennedy, will be speaking, as will Kimberlee Wright of Midwest Environmental Advocates, and DeShawn McKinney, President of the UW-Madison Wisconsin Union Directorate. And I’ll say a few words myself. It should be fun. If you haven’t already, please RSVPtoday to Beverly at
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MADISON - Thanks to all who contacted the Joint Finance committee co-chairs about Elections Commission staffing, based on our Call to Action yesterday. They heard you! The budget committee voted to keep 5 of the 6 elections positions that were slated to be cut in Governor Walker’s budget recommendation. Good work!

Congratulations to the League of Women Voters of North Carolina, a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging that state’s voter suppression law. The law was enacted hastily in 2013 after the Supreme Court gutted parts of the Voting Rights Act. It imposed a strict photo ID requirement and made other changes. The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday declined to reinstate the law, leaving in place a lower court ruling that said the law targeted African American voters “with almost surgical precision.”

LWV US President Chris Carson said last week: “President Trump’s ‘Election Integrity Commission’ is an unnecessary distraction from the real work to protect against foreign hacking and interference in our electoral process.” Read the full statement here.

Help defend voting rights and fair voting districts with a secure online contribution to the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin. Or click here to print a contribution form to mail in with your check. LWV WI is a tax exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS tax code, and contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

MADISON - The articles of impeachment that were being prepared against Richard Nixon before he resigned included obstruction of justice. Obstruction of justice was also the key charge in the impeachment of Bill Clinton.

On Thursday, the Trump Administration -- and even the president himself -- bragged that the firing of James Comey was intended to end the investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russian intelligence operations in the 2016 U.S. election.

Does Trump’s admission amount to impeachable obstruction of justice? We must have a special prosecutor leading an independent investigation to find out.

There are so many questions about Trump’s behavior and the legitimacy of the 2016 election that, in a sense, it’s not surprising to see an illegitimately elected president behaving without legitimacy. But we can’t lose sight of the bigger fight here.